For many years, industrial plants, office buildings, schools, etc., have employed containers into which trash and garbage may be dumped for temporary storage. Periodically, a sanitation service comes to the location of the container and picks it up by means of a truck-mounted lift mechanism which is normally found at either the front or rear of the truck. In most cases, the trash is rather loosely dumped into the container, for example, when cleaning personnel dump waste baskets, cartons, etc., into the container. Even in those cases where the containers are used at construction job sites or other industrial applications, they are usually rather loosely filled since, in most cases, no provision is made for compacting the trash within the container to eliminate otherwise unused space between the loosely packed trash.
Containers of this type require a relatively low initial capital expenditure, but are relatively expensive across their useful lifespan. This is because a loosely packed container must be dumped at rather frequent intervals in order to keep the trash from overflowing which results in unsightliness, littering, and rodent infestation. In other words, overall use of these containers is relatively expensive since a truck operated by one or more men must be brought to the container location to empty the container at relatively frequent intervals.
Some prior art devices have attempted to eliminate this deficiency by providing containers which may be used in combination with moveable packing members which can be removeably attached to a number of containers sequentially, allowing each container to be packed at least at periodic intervals. However, while this does decrease the number of trips which must be made by a disposal truck to dump the containers, it is also a cumbersome and expensive operation since it requires at least one employee to either move the containers to the compacting device or else to move the compacting device to the containers. Further, containers of this type must be provided with special doors and related hardware to accommodate the packer device while preventing the trash from falling out of the container at the opening through which the compactor must extend. This creates the additional problem of allowing rodent infestation of the container if any damage to it occurs which might warp the door, etc.
Recently, a partial solution to some of these problems has come about through the utilization of a power actuated packer which is integrally mounted within such container. An example of such a device has been illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,389 to Steltz. That patentee has disclosed the combination of a trash container of fairly standard size and shape but with doors at one side of the container. Trash may be deposited in the container through the side doors and an hydraulic cylinder may be actuated to pivot a compactor through the trash-receiving portion of the container toward the opposite wall of the container. In this manner, some of the otherwise unused space within the container will be eliminated and more trash can be stored until such time as the container can be emptied. When it is desired to empty the container, a door on the top of the container near the end opposite the trash-receiving doors may be opened and the container may be lifted and dumped into a removal truck.
As stated previously, this prior art device only partially solves the problems ennumerated above for a number of reasons. First, a separate set of doors must be provided for access to the trash-receiving portion of the container, thereby increasing the complexity of the device as well as the possiblity of trash spillage, rodent infestation, etc. Secondly, that apparatus discloses a compactor operating mechanism mounted within the trash container. In an attempt to eliminate the possibility of trash getting into the drive mechanism, that patentee has recognized the necessity of providing extra structural elements, thereby diminishing the amount of space within the container.
It has become imperative that these problems be solved due to increasing costs of trash disposal and ecological awareness. In other words, the need for a solution to the old problem of storing trash at its point of origin in a manner which is clean, safe, and economical is becoming more and more pressing as the population grows and individual trash generation increases.
It has also proven to be desirable to provide a mechanism which solves these problems which, though simple and inexpensive, will allow a gradually increasing force to be exerted along the path of the trash compactor as the operation is undertaken. In other words, when trash is initially being compacted, it is normally relatively easy to push it with a compactor. For example, if cartons are inserted into the trash-receiving portion of a container, it should be rather easy for a compactor mechanism to crush the cartons in order to eliminate the waste spaces in them. On the other hand, when this has been accomplished, it becomes necessary to ensure that the cartons are packed tightly against one another with a minimum of excess space between cartons. At this point, it is preferred that the compaction force be increased to accomplish the extra packing. Until the discovery of the present invention, these results had not been achievable with any prior art structures.